Working with Incarcerated Youth: Emotional Labour and Moral Wages

Abstract

Prisons are increasingly recognized as emotional places, especially for frontline staff. Though sociological accounts of emotional labour in prisons acknowledges the potential for negative outcomes (e.g. burnout), little scholarly attention has investigated the potential for positive outcomes, particularly opportunities for staff to earn moral wages. This article explores the emotional labour undertaken by correctional officers (COs) working with incarcerated youth in Canadian provincial prisons. Utilizing interviews with 40 COs, we unpack the patterned interactions characteristic of frontline work that call for emotional labour by prison staff, and its outcomes. Our results show that staff are aware of the emotional labour expected of them on the frontline, where opportunities to earn moral wages are contextualized by structural limitations inherent to the carceral environment.

Anticipating prison face work: Dramaturgical risks anticipated by correctional officer recruits

“…Finally, CORs contextualised these anxieties with reference to their situation not only in prison environments, but within shiftwork schedules that exacerbate efforts to maintain one's ‘cool’ and ability to engage in proficient face work (i.e., maintaining a ‘poker face’ in response to conflict). Our interviews reveal anxieties that CORs have regarding the ‘jailcraft’ involved in prison work – that is, the emotional labour which requires being perpetually vigilant and attuned to a particular prison culture and its social and security dynamics (Arnold, 2005; Atkinson & Mann, 2012; Crawley & Crawley, 2008; Perry & Ricciardelli, 2021). Research on the fronts and strategies employed by COs should also examine how emotional labour of COs may take both ‘shallow’ and ‘deep’ forms and their implications for CO role, burnout and mental well‐being (Nylander, Lindberg & Bruhn, 2011).…”

“…Prisoners place many demands on COs, who need to find the appropriate balance between accommodating prisoner needs, but not to the point of favoritism or breaching formal prison rules and structures (Crewe, Liebling & Hulley, 2011;Drake, 2008;Liebling, 2000). The pressures on COs and emotional labour (Arnold, 2005;Perry & Ricciardelli, 2021) involved is expressed succinctly by participant 71: I know we're going to get razzed a lot and called a lot of things with the offenders, but you know coming back with like you want to set your boundaries, but then you don't want to be um like you got a stick up your ass if you know what I mean. Participant 71's reflection on managing one's 'cool', in the context of rapport and discretion in prisons, suggests the value of maintaining a careful balance between accommodating prisoner requests and maintaining professional composure.…”

“…Penological researchers who have centred on the interactional dynamics of prisons often draw from the dramaturgical framework of Erving Goffman (1959), including the performative dynamics of interactions occurring within ‘total institutions’ (Goffman, 2017) and how these come to shape self‐presentation and reception. Daily interactions, including between COs and prisoners or between correctional workers, may constitute a form of emotional labour, which ‘require[es] staff to bear a performative attitude and employ a range of strategies’ relevant to the situation at hand (Crawley & Crawley, 2008, p.55; see also Arnold, 2005; Perry & Ricciardelli, 2021; Ricciardelli, 2019). Moreover, the CO role has a caring orientation that is, with few exceptions (e.g., Ricciardelli, Idzikowski & Pratt, 2020; Tait, 2011), under‐recognised in prison scholarship.…”

‘You’re Investing in People … It’s Not a Race. It’s Not a Rush’: Youth Care Worker Emotional Labour in Inner-City Neighbourhoods Across Canada

“…In addition to the literature on youth care work and secondary prisonization, we engage with the literature on emotional labour, particularly in criminal justice work (Anleu and Mack 2005;Perry and Ricciardelli 2021;Phillips et al 2020;Westaby et al 2020). Hochschild (1983) famously examined emotion work and emotional labour, defining emotion work as the work people do in everyday life to manage their emotions according to feeling rules, to prevent outbursts and to follow the social order as it pertains to emotions in any particular situation.…”

Las Medidas Penales Alternativas: ¿previenen Delitos?

“…Significa «crear una relación» en francés, y es la corriente afectiva que se establece en la interacción entre el profesional y la persona a la que atiende, que consiste en crear una conexión de empatía para que la persona se comunique con menos resistencia; es considerada como una de las habilidades terapéuticas básicas(Denault et al, 2020;Perry y Ricciardelli, 2021; Williams et al, 2020).© UNED. Revista de Derecho Penal y Criminología, 3.ª Época, n.º 28 (2022) LAS MEDIDAS PENALES ALTERNATIVAS: ¿PREVIENEN DELITOS?…”